Venezuela and Ecuador call for protection from so called ‘press abuses!’

I read a ridiculous article in El Universal, a Venezuelan paper, today titled ‘Chávez, Correa call for regional body on media and human rights’. If any more proof was needed of Chavez’s increasingly authoritarian method of rule then this is it. President Correa of Ecuador and President Chavez of Venezuela have called for an agency that “defends governments from abuses of the press” and described the media as the greatest enemy of the socialist model. They have clearly set their sights on the media as their enemy and seek to curtail their freedom every further.

Correa claimed that these new measures were aimed at tackling corruption within the media industry and came out with fighting talk:

Both presidents have accused the media of following the dictates of the opposition and distorting information in an effort to harm their governments. Chavez has effectively intimidated the media into submission with only a few mavericks continuing to defy him. This latest announcement shows that his regime will not tolerate any kind of criticism in the future.